Festool has announced – or at least is teasing about – a new portable workbench, STM 1800. The Festool STM 1800 looks to be designed as a one-person solution for breaking down large sheet goods off the floor.
Festool says the STM 1800 can support sheet goods up to 3100 x 2150 mm in size, or ~10.2′ x 7′. In other words, it should be able to handle 8′ x 4′ sheet goods with ease, and then some.
At this time, Festool has only teased about their new work support system overseas. There’s no information regarding USA availability at this time.
The STM 1800 is described as a mobile panel saw, designed to be used with circular saws and guide rails.
It folds down for storage and easier mobility, and has caster wheels on all four legs.
From the product video, it looks like the four outriggers can be removed and attached to the legs, to give the workbench a smaller footprint.
It can be tilted and pivoted on its caster wheels, for bringing a vertically-leaning workpiece to a horizontal position for cutting.
The wood blocks, for supporting workpieces during cutting operations, are user-replaceable.
At this time, we can’t find any details regarding pricing, availability, or specs.
Discussion
This seems like an interesting solution to make it easier to cut large sheets of plywood, OSB, or other such materials to size.
I wouldn’t consider it a replacement to their MFT/3 multi-functional table, although the STM 1800 does look a lot sturdier.
I’d think that this is a product for users who currently connect two or more MFT/3 tables together to increase cutting capacity, or who are looking for a better system than cutting large sheets on the floor supported by 2×4 or foam spacers.
If you watch the product video (below), it’s interesting how the workbench expands and collapses.
The STM 1800 rolls to where it’s needed, which makes it seem as more of a workshop or commercial space type of support system.
Details are slim right now, but if there’s interest we’ll look into digging up more.
Festool Video
Here’s the intro video from Festool UK (1:11 duration):
